Do they really?
by Starship T.A.R.D.I.S
Summary: After her entire world is destroyed, a lonely elfling finds that someone cares after all.
1. Chapter 1

Tauriel drew her bow, fired, and missed the target by a mile. She sighed and went to pick up her arrow. She was not particularly good at archery, but that was to be expected, as she had only arrived in Mirkwood a week prior. Her village was destroyed by orcs, and the memories haunted her every waking moment, and terrorized her dreams. She had seen every moment of her parent's deaths, and was only saved by her tree climbing skills. She could not forget her mother's screams as the orc blade pierced her heart, and her father's cry of anguish as he ran to her mother's dying body only to be pierced by an arrow and died only a few feet away from her. She could almost feel it, feel the sense of helplessness over and over again.

All in the village perished except for Tauriel, who had climbed a tree to the great height that only an elfling as young as her could reach, so high that the Guard patrol that had discovered the ruins of her village nearly did not find her. Fortunately for her, they did, and she had been taken to Mirkwood and placed with a foster family, and her new parents were both quite busy, as he held an important position in Court, and she was one of the head healers.

Tauriel wiped away tears as she bent to pick up the arrow. Contrary to what her classmates might believe, she was not crying that she had missed the target yet again, she was crying at the deaths of her parents. She hoped no one saw. The elflings of Mirkwood were much more skilled then her in many disciplines, and she often felt inferior to them. She tried twice more to hit the target, and only managed to clip the edge of the target on her second try. One of the instructors, she thought his name was Legolas, but she wasn't sure, she wasn't particularly good with names, came over to her. "

Stand like this." he said, modeling a stance, which she copied. "Now try and fire." he said. Tauriel fired, and the arrow went closer to the center, but there was only a slight difference. "Try again." Legolas, that was his name, she was right, commanded. She did as she was told, and each time she got a little better, not by much though.

Soon it was time to break for lunch, the most dreaded part of the day for Tauriel. She was not accepted here. The Mirkwood born elflings formed small cliques, and she was not included, but today she managed to snag a seat at a table with some other elflings, instead of sitting alone in a back corner.

"Why were you crying earlier? Is that because you're weak?" one of the elflings taunted her. Tauriel tried to not let it get to her, but she wanted to become a warrior, so to not feel so helpless again. She wanted to be strong, no, she needed to be strong. "No, I'm not, I just—" Tauriel's protests were cut off by another heart wrenching insult.

"You look and talk weird. Why is your hair such a funny color?" another elfling asked. Tauriel's shoulders slumped. Her hair color was from her mother, whose red tresses were floor length. Her mind was flooded with memories of her playing with her mother's hair as she sat on the floor as an infant, then as her mother's red blood mixed with her red hair as blood spurted from her mother's heart while her scream seemed to echo through out the village.

"You're so short. Was your father a dwarf?" another elfling said. Tauriel looked down at her food, suddenly finding herself not nearly as hungry as she once one was, and rose to leave, when one question made her bolt from the table.

"Do your parents even love you? They never come to walk you home or drop you off here, and they didn't come to the parent meeting last few days ago." This last question made Tauriel run, as far away from the lunchroom as she could. She ran outside, where she could be alone, away from the other elflings who tormented her, either by not acknowledging her existence or being mean to her.

She ran across the glade where they had been practicing, wanted to run forever, but she could not. She couldn't escape the nagging question: do your parents even love you? She knew her parents did, her real ones, but they were not here, they were in the stars with the Valar, but she could not see them, she could never see them again, not ever, they were gone, preserved in starlight, and she was here, stuck on earth. The only thing she could do was to climb, to get away from the earth and the other elflings, to try and reach the stars, but they were forever out of reach. Tauriel sat on the highest branch she could reach and sobbed. Her real parents were gone, she would never be able to see them again, and her foster parents were too busy and never had time for her. Dusk fell, and the first of the stars came out, and Tauriel was comforted. She sometimes felt like she could see her parents in the stars, feel them watching over her. Sometimes, she didn't even hear the screams when she looked at them.

As much as Tauriel wanted to fly like a bird, up to the heavens and soar into the night, she could not. She had to return, and face the consequences of running away, and to retrieve her bow. She grudgingly climbed down from the tree and returned to where they had been training. Only one elf remained. Legolas. She approached him from behind, in the hopes that she would be able to get her bow and leave without attracting attention. Unfortunately, this would not happen.

"Tauriel." he started firmly as he turned around to face her, holding her bow. "You should not have left training, no one knew where you were." his voice was almost angered, but the tear tracks on her face stopped him.

"I...I left...because..." Tauriel started to say, then stopped as her bottom lip started to quiver. Not even the starlight could comfort her, and the stars were indeed shining bright, for it was full on night by now.

"What happened?" Legolas asked gently.

"They...they asked if my parents even loved me..." Tauriel said, and gave into the tears. Legolas mulled this over for a moment then realized that this was the elfling whose parents who had been killed, and who had just arrived in Mirkwood barely a week past. He knew that some elflings could be quite cruel towards newcomers at times, and knew this to be one of them.

"I'm sure they do." he said as comfortingly as he could. "Besides, they are with the Valar, they will watch over you and keep you safe."

"I know my real parents did, but I am with a new family now. I do not know if they even care about me!" Tauriel said as a fresh wave of tears came over her.

"They do, they do." Legolas said in what he hoped was a comforting tone. He was not particularly good with children.

"If they do, then why do they not say so? Why do they never walk me to training, or to home after training? Why do they not tuck me in at night?" Tauriel said in between sobs."Those were things that my real parents did, but these never have! Why don't they just tell me that they love me, or hug me, or something! Why are they so distant!" Legolas had no answer for these questions. He merely bent down on one knee and hugged Tauriel. He let her cry into his shoulder until all the tears were gone, and she had fallen asleep. He picked her up and took her to her foster parent's house, and tucked her in. As he pulled the blanket over her, her eyes flickered open, and she mumbled something along the lines of "someone cares."

* * *

First off, I own nothing. Secondly, in this story, Tauriel is about 20, which in human terms is about 7. Yes, that is young to be handling a weapon, but elves develop much more quickly then humans. By their first year of life outside of the womb (Elves define life at beginning at conception, so by elf reasoning, 2), elves are able to run and even dance, and also this type of training would be not be with real arrows, as elves value their kids a ton and don't want them to get hurt, as elf don't have kids often. Ok. Nerd rant over. What do you think? Let me know by reviewing and favoriting! Starship T.A.R.D.I.S. out! Update 4/9/14: Since a couple people want another instalment, if you have ideas for what happens next, I will try to continue this! Leave them in a review or PM me!


	2. Chapter 2

A few months later, things were better for Tauriel. Her foster parents had started to pay more attention to her, and best of all, they had started tucking her in at night and reading bedtime tales of great warriors and their deeds in battle. Tauriel loved these stories, but also felt a little sad when she heard them. She sometimes wondered why the great warriors didn't come to save her, save her parents, and why the Elven guard came too late, but she tried not to wonder. She had been hearing the screams less and less as time faded the memories of her parent's deaths. Now, she usually only heard them at night, and could focus on life now that she was not constantly hearing death. More specifically, her life. She had amassed a small circle of friends, and had greatly improved at archery, due to some help from Legolas, who had become like a brother to her.

Training ended early for the day, so Tauriel and her friends did what any elfling would do: play. They had decided on a game called hide and seek, which was their favourite, as they all saw themselves as the best at hiding. Turgon had volunteered to be the seeker first, and Tauriel, Gildor, Miriwen, Amoniel and Faelwen all went off to hide. Tauriel had the perfect spot. To her knowledge, no one had ever dared hide there before, probably due to the monstrous beast that lived there. The beast was the cook, who had no special fondness for elflings running around getting underfoot when she was trying to prepare food. Still, victory at the game was worth being chased out of the kitchen by a spoon wielding cook.

She sneaked into the kitchen. A feast was planned for tonight, Mereth Nuin Giliath, the feast of starlight. Tauriel liked the idea of that. She often felt like her parents lived up in the stars, so it was almost like a giant party celebrating them. Being that there was a feast, the kitchens were especially crowded and easy to sneak in to. Tauriel found a spot in one of the larger storage rooms and sat down to wait on a large bag of flour. After a few minutes, she started to wish that she had brought something with her to do. Patience had never been an attribute of Tauriel, and she got bored easily. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming toward her. Heavy ones, those of an adult, not the light footsteps of an elfling trying to sneak around. Tauriel looked around, panicked. She didn't really have anywhere good to hide. There were sacks of flour and sugar, and the person could go to any of them. If she were discovered, she would lose the hiding spot. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to find a solution in the short seconds she had before the person came in. Rafters! If she could get up, she could sit on top of the beams and no one would be the wiser. Some of the flour sacks were like a staircase, reaching up almost all the way. Tauriel quickly ran up the "steps," her feet causing tiny puffs of flour to emit from some of the bags. She grabbed onto the rafter and hoisted herself up on top of it, legs dangling down. Just then, the door opened. The cook entered, opened one several of the sacks and collected some from each of them. Tauriel had no idea why. She didn't really like cooking, except for the outcome: sweets. Tauriel was fond of sweets, especially cookies. Chocolate chip were her favorite. She would always steal some of the batter whenever her mother made them.

Tauriel couldn't hear much now that the door to the storeroom was closed, but about an hour later, she smelled something. Chocolate chip cookies. Tauriel quickly slid off of the rafter onto the top sack of flour and walked down the remaining sacks. Tauriel quickly ran about the kitchen, and went to find her friends. She wouldn't want them to miss out on cookies.

"There you are!" Tauriel's friends exclaimed. They had been looking for her for nearly two hours.

"Here I am, and I've found something!" Tauriel said.

"What?!" the group of elflings said excitedly.

"Chocolate. Chip. Cookies. They're making them in the kitchen!" Tauriel said seriously, then happily.

"Can we get some?" the other elflings asked, sharing Tauriel's love of cookies.

"If you don't mind stealing them..." Tauriel said with a devilish grin on her face. Based on the expressions of her friends, they had no qualms about grabbing some cookies either. "Let's go!" Tauriel said, then took off running in the direction that she came from. The rest of her friends followed her.

One would think that a half dozen elflings sneaking into a kitchen would have spotted. One would have been wrong. The preparations for the feast had left the kitchens crowded, and a few more bodies, albeit small ones, went unnoticed. The six elflings sneaked around the giant table where the cook's assistants were frantically chopping veggies, past the storeroom where Tauriel had hidden earlier, past the ovens, and into the room of cooling racks. Fortunately for them, the cookies were near the door. Unfortunately, the cook was in there. The elflings grabbed a handful of cookies each, and ran. The cook chased after them brandishing a wooden spoon, but didn't catch them. The pack of elfings, led by Tauriel, started laughing uncontrollably as they ran. They made it out of the kitchens, only to run into something, or rather, someone, else. That someone would be Legolas, who Tauriel collided with, and the rest of the elflings into her.

"What are you doing?" Legolas asked.

"Nothing..." Tauriel attempted to say, but it came out as something unintelligible, as she had stuffed a cookie in her mouth as they ran and was working frantically to chew, getting chocolate smudged around her mouth in the process.

"Uh huh." Legolas said skeptically. Tauriel swallowed, and looked up at him, holding out her small hand, still stuffed with about three cookies.

"Want one?"

* * *

A/N Hi! This chapter is a lot happier then the first one! I hadn't planned on continuing it, but I couldn't quite get the image of a bunch of elflings all literally running into Legolas! Got any ideas for future chapters? Leave them in a review! Let me know what you think by reviewing, favoriting, and following! Disclaimer: I own nothing. Starship T.A.R.D.I.S. out!


	3. Chapter 3

The rain finally stopped. It had been raining for a few days, and the elflings, Tauriel included, were getting restless, eager for some fresh air. Tauriel, Miriwen, Amoniel, Faelwen, Turgon and Gildor had the day off from training due to the nice weather, as the sun had broken out from behind the clouds, and was shining brightly, though not brightly enough to dry out the mud that had formed, as Tauriel soon found. She and her friends were playing tag in the animal pasture, it was a wide, flat space, with plenty of room to run and no room to hide. The animals didn't seem to mind the six elflings zooming around the field, each trying desperately not to get the plague of becoming it. Tauriel was running from Turgon, who had this unlucky distinction, when she tripped. She fell into what was quite possibly the biggest mud pit in the entire pasture.

Turgon, being a complete and utter gentleman, offered her a hand up before shouting "you're it!" and running off. He didn't too far though. Tauriel was mad that she had fallen on the slick mud, madder that her friends had laughed at her, and enraged that Turgon had tricked her. She had the perfect weapon at her disposal: mud. She quickly scooped up a ball of mud and threw it at Turgon, hitting him square in the back. She gave out a little cheer, then darted after him. He, however, had prepared for this battle as well. Unfortunately for him, his aim was not quite as good as Tauriel's and he ended up hitting Miriwen. She, seeking revenge, accidentally hit Amoniel. By then, Faelwen and Gildor had joined in, and it was a muddy free for all, with alliances being formed and destroyed in seconds. In the process of the mud battle, some of the animals became curious, namely Thranduil's elk. It had wandered over, wondering what the elflings were doing. Unfortunately, a misaimed mudball by Tauriel managed to hit him. "Oops" was all Tauriel managed to say before she had to duck and avoid a mudball coming from Gildor. Faelwen figured out that she could use the elk as a shield, which resulted in cries of cheater from the elflings and no reaction from said elk. Soon, all of the elflings, and the elk, were covered in mud. The elflings noticed several someones approaching the pasture, and, fearing it was a trainer or some other parental figure, climbed a tree by the edge of the pasture and sat on a single branch together, dangling their legs as they waited for the people to leave. The figures approaching were easily recognizable. One of them was tall, blond, blue-eyed, and wore an imposing crown. None other then King Thranduil approached. The elflings were all immediately silenced. Even from far away, he cut an imposing figure.

"Why is my elk covered in mud?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the servant who had accompanied him.

"I...I do not know sir...he was perfectly clean when I last checked on him, barely an hour past." the servant said nervously.

"You know I need to use him today. Those dignitaries from the race of Men requested my escort through the forest." Thranduil said with a piercing glare.

"You could perhaps ride a different steed my lord." the servant said, rather nervously.

"I am the king, it is my duty to be majestic. No other steed will suffice." Thranduil said.

"Yes, my lord...I will wash him, he will be ready within the hour." the servant said.

"A hour will be too slow. They are expecting me quite soon. Bob must be ready by then." Thranduil said. Far up in the trees, the elflings barely stifled their giggles at the name, Bob, that Thranduil had chosen for his elk.

"Five minutes?" the servant countered, suddenly having an idea involving a waterfall that would leave poor Bob with a fear of waterfalls for the rest of his life.

"Very well." Thranduil said. The servant quickly led Bob to a waterfall at the edge of the clearing, and returned him to the king, dripping wet, to receive a raised eyebrow from the king.

"Really?" Thranduil sighed. "Very well. I suppose he will dry on the way. If he does not..." he let the sentence trail off. He mounted the elk and left the pasture, much to the servant's, and the elflings, relief. They all quickly climbed down from the tree, laughing slightly at what they had just witnessed. They returned to the palace as one enormously muddy group. Unfortunately, they ran into Legolas.

"My father was quite upset earlier today. There was an incident involving quite a lot of mud on his elk." Legolas said.

"Why do you think it was us?" Tauriel asked. Legolas merely raised an eyebrow at her, and the large amount of mud on the elflings clothes.

"Well..." Tauriel said, and darted off, her friends following her. At this point, getting scolded by their parents was better then facing Legolas and getting the blame for muddying the king's elk.


End file.
